The Sports Summery, by Summer Weinberg
As the Miami University regular hockey season comes to a close, the NHL is just starting to heat up.
The 2016 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series, a relatively new tradition in the league, features two games every February that are played in an outdoor stadium temporarily converted to an ice rink.
This year, the Chicago Blackhawks lost at the Minnesota Wild, 1-6, and the Detroit Red Wings play at the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 27.
The Winter Classic is held annually on or around New Years Day and is also a fairly new tradition, as the first Winter Classic was held in 2008.
The idea of outdoor hockey games originated in 2003 in Edmonton, Canada with the creation of the Heritage Classic. Unlike other games, this does not occur on an annual basis, making it more exclusive and anticipated.
Since the creation of these events, fans have been unstoppably drawn to not only the playoff feel of these regular-season games, but also the culture that surrounds them.
Even as a television viewer, I love the multiple outdoor series that the NHL offers. The Stadium Series feels like spring is returning after a long winter of regular season hockey. I love watching the games, especially since other sports play in those exact outdoor stadiums. The transformation from football field to ice rink adds to the hype around the games.
The month of February brings much media attention with the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Weekend and the NFL Combine. Without the Stadium Series, the NHL would be getting little-to-no recognition.
"It's probably more impactful than any regular-season game, in any sport, with the possible exception of a deciding game to make the playoffs at the end of the season," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.
The players also love the atmosphere of events such as the Winter Classic and Stadium Series. "The excitement will definitely get them energized. I don't think we'll have to fire them up too much before the game," Minnesota Wild coach John Torchetti said.
However, the first game of this year's Stadium Series drew record-low TV ratings for any outdoor hockey game ever aired on NBC. But while the Blackhawks game was a bit of a bust, Bettman said fans and teams "cannot get enough" of the outdoor series and that "they're far from being overdone or oversaturated."
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Next winter, both the Winter Classic and the Stadium Series will be held in different stadiums. There are so many prestigious outdoor sports arenas in the United States - the NHL will have a tough time exhausting its options. That is, if fans don't exhaust the hype behind the games first.
For the sake of dedicated NHL fans, I hope that outdoor games continue to be a tradition in the league. Though the sports world has proven traditions are hard to form and keep in the early stages, I believe in the NHL's ability to have outdoor games for generations to come.
Tune into NBC at 8 p.m. Feb. 27 to catch the final game of this year's Stadium Series.OUt
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